Introduction

Cycling has been undergoing a renaissance in North America over the past two decades as ridership levels have increased throughout Canada and the USA (Pucher, Buehler & Seinen, 2011). Such increases emphasize the need to ensure that there exists an adequate level of safety for cyclists that is sufficient to support both current ridership volumes and its future growth. British Columbia, despite promoting the use of cycling for means of transportation, remains dangerous: every year in the province, there are approximately 1,400 injuries and 10 fatalities involving road cyclists (Grossman, 2011).

The study looked at the corridor of Highway 99 that connects Vancouver to Whistler, referred to locally as the ‘Sea to Sky Highway’. The 120 km route is notoriously dangerous, and in 2009 received upgrades to improve safety, reliability, and capacity (Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, 2008). Cyclist safety on the route is a primary concern as the highway hosts the annual GranFondo bike event, a race that brings several thousand cyclists to the highway in a single day (Mitchell, 2011). In addition, training begins in the spring and contributes to substantial daily cyclist volumes.

To ensure the highway provides a satisfactory level of safety to cyclists, the study was undertaken to assess the route.

The primary goals of the study were to:

          - Identify deficiencies in cycling safety

          - Determine the area of highest-risk to cyclists

          - Recommend mitigation measures to be undertaken to improve cyclist safety

In addition to the primary goals of the study, it fills a gap in literature on cycling safety in a highway setting.

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